Scope and Content Note
The papers of Henry Aaron Hill (1915-1979) span the years 1867-1979, with the bulk of the collection dating from 1933 to 1979. An organic chemist, Hill was an authority on polymer chemistry and fabric flammability who became involved with product safety and product liability in the late 1960s and 1970s. An active member of the American Chemical Society, Hill was the first African-American chemist to serve as president of that organization. The Hill Papers are arranged in four series: Personal Correspondence , Organizations File , Professional File , and Miscellany . They focus primarily on his career in the chemical industry, his activities in related organizations, and his service on governmental and educational advisory bodies. The two largest sections document Hill's affiliation with the American Chemical Society and the Riverside Research Laboratory, which he founded in 1961 and served as president until his death in 1979.
The Personal Correspondence spans the years 1933-1979, but the largest portion covers the period 1933-1940 and consists of letters from family and friends during the time Hill was going to college or working to raise money to continue his education. This correspondence provides details about his family and the financial struggles he underwent in getting an education. Along with personal and academic records in the Miscellany series, the Personal Correspondence provides the most information about Henry Hill's private life.
The Organizations File contains papers regarding Hill's activities with professional organizations, governmental advisory councils, and educational institutions. Files on Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina, the historically black college where Hill received his bachelor's degree, contain records of his alumni activities as well as his service on the university's board of trustees. Files on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also contain alumni material but primarily relate to Hill's service on the corporation, his work on visiting committees in several science departments, and his work with minority graduate students. Documents relating to Hill's time as a student at these universities are in the Miscellany series.
Files relating to Hill's membership on the National Commission on Product Safety include hearing transcripts, reports, and other material concerning product safety issues involving items such as toys, fabrics, lawn mowers, and household appliances. Hill also served on the National Motor Vehicle Safety Advisory Council which advised the secretary of transportation on automotive safety. Topics featured include the flammability of motor vehicle interiors and passive restraints such as air bags. Hill's membership on the advisory council to the Senate Commerce Committee's subcommittee on consumer affairs is also reflected in this series.
The largest of the organizational files relates to Hill's affiliation with the American Chemical Society culminating in his service as president in 1977. Files are arranged by name of group or committee. Correspondence, notes, memoranda, and reports cover his service on the board of directors and the national council as well as his work in the Northeastern Section of the society. Hill also served on many committees. He was chairman of the Committee on Professional Relations, where he promoted professionalism and helped develop guidelines for employers on hiring and terminating chemists. He also served on the Committee on Chemistry and Public Affairs. An initiative sponsored by this committee was Project SEED (Subcommittee for the Education and Employment of the Disadvantaged), and material relating to this project appears throughout the files.
The Professional File series contains material relating to Hill's career as a practicing chemist and administrator. The files are arranged according to place of employment and contain research and planning notes, scientific literature, correspondence, memoranda, and reports on research topics such as synthetic rubber, rubber additives, the synthesis of polymers, polyvinyl chloride, and fluorine chemistry. Also included is material documenting Hill's efforts as a young African American to find employment as a chemist in the 1940s and files on his efforts to develop ventures such as a cosmetics line for African Americans named Brown-Belle Cosmetics.
A major portion of the Professional File concerns the management and functioning of Riverside Research Laboratory in Haverhill, Massachusetts. This laboratory offered research, development, and consulting services relating to resins, plastics, rubber, product liability, and product safety. The client and project files contain correspondence, technical data, background literature, reports, and other documents relating to specific research projects. Some are arranged by an alphabetical client code used in the laboratory. Many of the files, particularly in the 1970s, relate to specific cases in which people had been burned when fabric, often clothes or tents, caught fire. Hill was hired to recreate the circumstances and draw technical conclusions, and he often testified as an expert witness in product liability litigation. Other files stem from a contract with the Food and Drug Administration to investigate incidents involving flammable fabrics in the Boston area. Related organizational files include the Information Council on Fabric Flammability and the National Burn Federation. One client file, “G”, focuses on Hill's efforts to assist in the industrial development of Trinidad and Tobago. Correspondence, planning notes, financial records, and a development file document Hill's activities, goals, and plans for his laboratory.
Hill also ran the Sigma Chemical Corp., a manufacturing operation affiliated with Riverside Research Laboratory which produced a blowing agent used to make foamed rubber and plastics. Files include administrative and financial records as well as documents on antimony mining in South America. The Henry A. Hill Realty Trust was established to own the land, buildings, and equipment which Hill purchased for Riverside Research Laboratory through a Small Business Administration program.
The Miscellany series includes records pertaining to Hill's academic years and personal life. Topics include school activities and scholarships, personal and household financial information, and family members, particularly his older brother, William Anthony (Tony) Hill III, a ceramic artist, and Henry's son, Anthony Cromwell Hill. Also included is a small file on Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts, a cousin of Henry Hill's wife, Adelaide Cromwell Hill.